Save Next Time
by OrangeOrchids
Summary: Mario gets a game over, and maybe, possibly forgets to save. For more than 20 years maybe.
1. Game Over.

Mario looked down at his bloodstained shirt and overalls. The tear in his chest was nearly a foot across, and the pain burned into his scar was agonizing. Mario knew he wouldn't survive this. Bowser was completely silent, as if he didn't _mean_ to kill the red-suited man, as if he didn't _expect_ to. The horrified stutter grew louder as Bowser realized something. Mario slowly fell to the ground, with a smirk. He could just go to the last save point, right? Mario, life slowly fading thought one important question, "When did I last _save_?". Mario bled out his chest as he fell to the solid ground, trying to remember.


	2. The last save point.

Mario woke up from what seemed like death. He was in front of a save block, in a somewhat familiar setting, a faraway place he couldn't quite put his finger on. The pain from the last death was still there, but he seemed younger, more diligent. "C'mon Bruce Lee, we don't have all day!", a familiar voice beckoned. Mario slowly turned to what seemed like a wake-up call, 4 figures standing before him. Peach, Bowser, Mallow, and Geno.

Peach and Bowser were having a fight, as per usual, and Mallow seemed cheery. Geno, however, was stuttering, with a horrified complexion on his face. He knew about the incident. Mario didn't have an answer, that is, if he even asked. He fumbled over his words like a complete idiot, it seemed. He didn't even save, despite everyone reminding him to do so. It was embarrassing.

Mario didn't have to explain, however. Geno was shy, at first, slowly sauntering over to him. He then proceeded to embrace Mario. It felt surprisingly soft, for wood. Mario hugged back, remembering everything before this in his memory. The backtrace stopped somewhere unexpected but likely. Somewhere he looked back on regularly.

* * *

Geno had to go. Star Road was fixed, and wishes could be granted again. He probably wouldn't see them again for years, decades even. Mario's eyes were watering. Stoic hero Mario, who had to say goodbye to friends and allies for the last time regularly, was crying over this. He knew he would never see Geno again. Geno, slowly leaving the shell that was once just a toy to the red plumber, said a goodbye. Just like that, he was gone.

Mario was once jealous of Geno, being the most celebrated to a child. He grew to the thought of being humble, though, and with that came friendship. They roomed with each other, more often enough, and they usually shared items with each other when supplies were low. They had grown as people, helping each other through that growth. Now he was gone, most likely never to be seen again. That was when Mario had realized something. He loved Geno, but he'd never get the chance to tell him.

* * *

Mario felt smooth wood careen across his face. Was he crying? Geno looked at him as if wanting to cry too, but not being able to. "Please, save next time. I don't want to see you like that again." Geno pleaded. Mario nodded, still slightly crying. They would have to catch up, eventually.


	3. The Final Fight?

Mario pulled back from the embrace and looked around. He first noticed the green switch. It was the one for the crane, the one to get to Smithy. They were in the last section of the Factory in Bowser's Keep. At least he had saved here and not at the beginning somewhere. From the looks of all the gun scraps, they already had defeated Gunyolk.

He then looked around at his party. Peach, along with Bowser, had quieted. Peach had equipped the Lazy Shell armor beforehand. She had an aged frying pan in hand, still sturdy after years of wear. Peach was always good with the frying pan, but she always had skill with healing or moves like Psych Bomb. That's what she always defaulted to anyway.

Bowser, was, well, Bowser. He had, ironically, magic enhancing jewelry around his large neck. He looked impatient, as always. Bowser did act like a big, spiky, child sometimes, but he was always welcome in the party. He did act like an elementary school bully sometimes though.

Mallow had this confused look on his face, and rightfully so. Who just does that? No-one does that unless something's wrong. He defaulted to a neutral face after a while, probably equating the entire situation due to Smithy. This was the last fight after all.

A couple of minutes passed, and Mario decided to do something. He confidently walked over to the green switch and jumped on it. A crane carried him over to the room containing Smithy. Already, something was off course. He wasn't even there. Blocks of his image phased in and out of existence, but other than that, the only thing there was the star piece. The obvious came to Mario. This was a glitch. He had not encountered something like this for years, at least, in the last timeline.

"Something's up" Peach announced. "Well, obviously!" Mallow yelled. Mario picked up the star piece at first, without fail. Then, the world started to corrupt. At this point, all the party members were in his party. They had to leave the universe, but they couldn't. Then, Mario's menu flashed, with as if it was sentient. "Do you want to continue?".


	4. Continue? Intermission

"Would you like to continue?"  
Yes No

As the image of the world corrupted, the two options were made more apparent. It seemed as if this was the work of save corruption, something Mario was no stranger to. While everyone survived the save corruption, most would come out hurt, but never dead. Unless he told others, most would never remember. There was only one exception to this, star spirits. The process of save corruption was scary. You always feel alone, trapped. At this point, Mario only had the menu to focus on. There seemingly was only one option he could choose.

"Would you like to continue?"  
 **Yes** No  
It was then Mario's vision went dark.


	5. The Return to Reality

Mario woke up to a tired Luigi, sleeping in a chair. Was it all a dream? One look around his own living room disproved this, his entire party was asleep on this floor. Even Geno, surprisingly. The only reason he did anything _close_ to sleep was when he was knocked out in battle. It was the middle of the night, the only light coming from the window. Mario sat up and checked his menu. Everyone who was supposed to be in his party was there. His items were the only menu that seemed to be affected. Everything was there, but things were somehow added.  
" **Debug Bomb** "  
"Deals 255 damage to all enemies."  
Wait, _Debug_ Bomb? Something had obviously happened that day. Mario hadn't seen the word debug, much less a debug item in his menus in years. If save corruption was the reason he was here, why was this in his menu? Things like this only appeared in his menu deliberately. The only way Mario's items would be affected is if his items were corrupted, and it didn't seem as if anything was off, unless-  
" **?** "  
"error 0"  
He had never seen this before. It wasn't even a recognizable error, like error 404. Whatever happened to spark this in the first place? Mario didn't _dare_ use it. With glitch items like these, you never knew what came of the results. Unless he knew what he was doing, Mario never even touched things like these. He closed the menu, eyes widened. What happened? Save corruption was out of the question, even though there was a glitch item in his inventory. There were other ways to obtain glitch items, including ways to also obtain debug items as well.

Mario looked over to Geno. He'd probably find out the next day. He'd want to know about an anomaly like this. Mario started to think. He was the only one who could usually access debug and glitch items, and normally, he knew when they would be placed in his inventory. If that wasn't enough, Luigi was nowhere _near_ Bowser's keep, much less knowing that a factory was there. How did this even come to fruition?


	6. Preparations

"C'mon, Mario! Wake up!". Mario rolled over to see Geno shaking him, or at the very least trying. "W-well? We have to go sometime this week!" Geno uttered. Peach, leaning against a wall, mumbled something under her breath with a smile. "H-hey! I heard that!" Geno answered. Peach just smiled a bit and went back to talking to Mallow. Mario wondered what she said, but due to Geno's reaction, he probably didn't want to know.

Mario, with a worn expression, got up, reluctantly, and walked over to his room. It was a small room he used to share with his brother. After a while though, they got their own rooms. It was just awkward after a couple of years. The room itself was painted grey, with a wood floor. He kept it relatively clean, as bugs were unfortunately prone in his neck of the woods. The room was mostly empty, with the addition of a bed and nightstand was really the only things there, besides relics from his past adventures.

Where was his hat? It was on his nightstand, blocks of it fading in and out of existence. It turned shades of red and blue occasionally. Should he touch it? Could he touch it? Mario walked over to the hat, and carefully put it on. Nothing happened, that he could see anyway. Everyone was ready to go, as expected. "Alright, I get it, we're excited, but where are we even going?!" Bowser thundered. "Wow Bowser, for being so vapid, that's a good question." Peach sneered. "Well," Mallow chimed in, "If we're going anywhere we need supplies, and after Gunyolk, our items are probably dried up at this point!".

"Well, Mario, what do you think?" Geno asked. "Oh, of course, you ask Mario! Is there something you want to tell us, star boy?" Bowser teased. Geno hid his face into his hands before anyone could say anything. "Bowser!" Peach and Mallow yelled. "Well, think about it!" Bowser said, "Geno-". "Maybe you should know when to stop, for once." Mario butted in, "Seriously, he's visibly embarrassed by this, there's no need to take it further". "Well, fine, delay the truth. I'm getting coffee." Bowser mumbled as he walked out the door.

"That's Bowser for you!" Peach delightfully expressed. "Seriously though, was there something you wanted to tell us, Geno?" Mario inquired. 'N-no! I'm good," Geno replied, "Besides, we have to get going, supplies don't buy themselves". "Alright, let's go then!" Mallow yelled. They walked out the door as the sun went up. The peachy colored sky highlighted the shiny cobblestone of the road. It looked beautiful, lifting all of Mario's cares away. The town wasn't too far away, only a short walk, at least from what Mario could remember. The road was surprisingly absent of enemies, to everyone's surprise.

Before everyone knew it, they were in town. They arrived there at around 9 in the morning. The start of the town was the shopping center, with the middle having a fountain. The water sprouted and glistened from it, the sunlight refracting off of the sparkling water. The path was made of stone bricks, slowly aged throughout the years. The marketplace itself was buzzing with energy. Everyone was being merry, like any town center.

The party walked around before stumbling upon Bowser at a locally owned cafe, true to his word, having coffee. He had seemingly calmed down a little. Now all they had to do was get Bowser back, he was a crucial part of the party, despite being Bowser. hey walked over to the establishment. "Wow, walked all the way over here for me? I'm flattered." Bowser proclaimed. "Oh, big whoop, we had to get supplies anyway." Peach said. "Oh, and what about star boy over here?" Bowser teased, "Has he-". "Stop calling me that!" Geno uttered. "Seriously guys, we're working together," Mario announced, "we need to get supplies anyway like Peach said". "Oh fine." Bowser expressed, getting up.

They had about 700 coins, probably about enough to buy the things they needed, Max 'Shrooms and Pick-me-ups. The shop that actually sold these things was finally open. Mario had a little exchange with the toad, before exchanging the coins for the items, the usual. They had all the things they needed, and so they headed back to the trail to the Factory.


	7. Glitches

They were here, again. The thick air made Mario's skin crawl with dread. The nearby gears ground with his heartbeat. The sharp, bitter smell of burning metal filled the room, as if it came from his fear, erupting in flames. The obstruction of smoke swirling around him, making the neon green switch barely visible. It was as if his fear and dread of the thought of what would happen next manifested into the to room itself.

Mario walked on to the green switch. The crane carried him and his party over to the room containing Smithy. The menu flashed, just like before. Mario knew what to do this time.

"Do you want to Continue?"

"Yes" "No"

It was then his item menu flashed. Mario's menu had almost infinite items, glitch items, debug items, everything. Items just started swapping, as if the menu had a mind of its own. Mario realized what was happening, the entity was trying to wrong warp. By the time he realized this, however, it was too late. His vision went dark, and he felt something change around him.

Mario woke up, looking at a grey sky. The snow around him gently swallowing his body. The freezing mist reached his face as he sat up, clinging on to his skin. Mario dusted off some of the smoothy falling white. Where were the others? He noticed something in the distance. A wood cabin. He slowly shuffled to the cabin, the frigid snow below holding back. Upon closer examination, the wood cabin was almost frozen, but only the top layer of wood. By the time Mario got to the door of the warm, inviting cabin, he felt numb, all except for the frozen needles he felt jabbing at his skin.

Geno opened the door and quickly pulled Mario inside, shutting the door behind them. "Mario! How long were you out there? You're almost blue!" Mallow scolded, "We were worried!". Geno went into a hallway with a quick pace. Mario looked around the cabin. The room was made of rich, dark wood, shaped almost rectangle-like. There were 2 couches made out of a maroon leather, all arranged around a coffee table made of wood and frosted glass. A pool table was also nearby, for whatever reason. Mario sat down on the couch adjacent to Mallow.

It was then Geno arrived carrying blankets, with as much of a concerned expression he could probably achieve. He placed the blankets on to Mario and sat next to him. Peach then arrived with a less concerned look, arriving from the same hallway. She sat next to Mallow. A deep pain burned into Mario's skin, and he let out a soft cry. "Mario? Are you okay?" Geno whispered. "He has frostbite, from what I can tell anyway." Peach explained, "When recovering people feel a burning sensation, or in Mario's case, pain". Mario slowly nodded, slightly recoiling from a sting. Geno put a hand on Mario's shoulder. "Well, we can't leave until he's recovered, can we?". Everyone turned their attention to Bowser, who was holding a tray of cookies. He presumably baked them with stolen ingredients from the kitchen.

No-one scolded him for it. What are you going to do, teach him a lesson for making you cookies? He placed the tray on the coffee table and sat on the couch with Peach and Mallow. Everyone said some sort of thank you, including Mario, but he said a little weak one, to no-one's surprise. They were going to be here for a while.

Everyone told stories, especially Mallow, who told the most out of anyone. Once Mario was well enough to speak, he contributed as well, telling of all his adventures and glitch shenanigans. After a couple hours of this, Mario started to be lulled to sleep.


End file.
